Macromedia Studio 8 is Available
This morning Macromedia announced Studio 8 (note the lack of an X in the name). The new suite contains updated versions of Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Contribute and FlashPaper. The most exciting aspect for me is the new video features in flash which were demoed in Tokyo almost a year ago.
Kris and Roland seem to think that Macromedia, and its older sibling Adobe, are a couple of dinosaurs perched to die along with the rest of the Web 1.0 world. Personally, I think their theory is just a little far-fetched. Adobe is the workhorse of the design industry. Sure they haven’t done anything mind-blowingly innovative in quite some time (although InDesign has been a godsend) but to compare a product like PhotoShop to iPhoto is a bit of a stretch.
And Macromedia continues to build… from CD-ROMs, kiosks, and motion graphics to video players, web applications, cell-phone interfaces… the list goes on. Now don’t get me wrong, when in doubt… clean (x)html, css and unobtrusive JavaScript is definitely the way to go and the collaborative approach of Web 2.0 is a great thing. However, Macromedia’s offering extends beyond the browser and, even within the browser, no single approach is the solution for everything.
Also, just because Adobe and Macromedia build software in the traditional (Software 1.0?) way, doesn’t mean their products can’t be used by other resourceful people to build clever, Web 2.0 projects (Odeo comes to mind).
Leave a Comment